quatorze

Forms

quatorze (invariable)^[1] Anglo-Norman spellings include quatorce, quatorse and quartorze.^[2] Old French also catorze.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *quattordecim, an altered form of Classical Latin quattuordecim (“fourteen”), from quattuor (“four”) and decem (“ten”).^[4][5][6][7]

Cognate with Italian quattordici, Catalan catorze, Spanish catorce and Portuguese quatorze.^[4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears at the beginning of the 12th century in the Voyage de saint Brendan, where the saint chooses fourteen of his monks.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Besides the cardinal number it served as an ordinal, as in Louis quatorze (Richelet, 1680).^[6] As a noun it named the fourteenth day of the month (Mme de Sévigné, 1676) and, at piquet, a set of four cards worth fourteen points (1690).^[6][4] Hugo wrote of le quatorze juillet, the national holiday, in 1865.^[6]

Chercher midi à quatorze heures (early 17th century) means to make a simple thing needlessly hard.^[4][6] The First World War became la guerre de quatorze (about 1920), whence repartir comme en quatorze (1962), recalling the cheerful departure of the men called up in 1914.^[4]

Timeline

• Early 12th century – First record, in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[6]
• 1622 – Chercher midi à quatorze heures.^[6]
• 1676 – Mme de Sévigné uses le quatorze for the 14th of the month.^[6]
• 1680 – Richelet records Louis quatorze.^[6]
• 1690 – Furetière records the piquet sense.^[6][4]
• 1865 – Hugo writes of le quatorze juillet.^[6]
• c. 1920 – La guerre de quatorze.^[4]
• 1962 – Repartir comme en quatorze.^[6][4]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Fourteen: un garçon de quatorze ans.^[9][6]
2. Fourteenth, in names and numbering: Louis XIV, page quatorze.^[9][10]

Noun

1. The number fourteen.^[10]
2. The fourteenth day of the month;^[9][6] le 14 Juillet, the French national holiday.^[9][6]
3. (card games) At piquet, four cards of the same rank, worth fourteen points.^[6][4]
4. Chercher midi à quatorze heures: to look for difficulties where there are none.^[10][11]
5. La guerre de quatorze or de quatorze-dix-huit: the First World War.^[11][4]

Word family

• quatorzaine
• quatorzième

Related words

• quatre
• dix
• Latin quattuordecim

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 2:69
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1441a
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse